Stepping Into the Unknown

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For those of you who are curious the World Record is 405.22 km or 251.79 miles which is a very long way.

Many years ago I was in charge of a team of technicians that did call outs around the country servicing home gyms. At the time this sector was rather challenging due to the quality of technicians as they would repair the broken part and not necessarily fixing the fault that caused that part to break.

The one weekend we were put on the spot when the marketing gurus decided to sponsor a runner attempting to break the world record of running on a treadmill for 48 hours. He was allowed toilet breaks, but everything else had to be done on the treadmill like eating and drinking.

The problem with home treadmills is they are not commercial grade and are only expected to run for 60-90 minutes per session. The belt also needs lubricating or there is a build up of static electricity which can blow the main control board.

We met the runner that was going to attempt this record and he looked like an average Joe which had me casting my doubts that he had no chance of making this. Normally it is not difficult to spot a runner and especially an ultra distance runner due to their sleek build. This guy was skinny, but other than that did not look any different from most of us. He must have trained and know he can last because who would be this stupid if they had not. A normal marathon runner will run a good 100Km a week in training just to stay in shape.

We were asked to assist and have a team around the clock making sure the treadmills were working which there would be 3 in operation allowing one to cool down and one extra as a spare just in case. My guys would be on site from the start at 1pm Friday lunch time finishing off in front of the shoppers on Sunday at 1pm. This was based around the end of the month so a large crowd was expected.

Posters were made and an advertising campaign was in full swing making noise about the world record challenge. I was hoping the marketing team which was an independent American company had done their home work and had sussed this guy out thoroughly. He just did not look like someone who could run 250 Km which is roughly 48 hours at 5Km and hour which is a joggers pace.

I went to bed normally on Friday night (pre Hive) so it was earlier than today's times and was woken up at around 1 am when the phone rang. The caller was one of my technicians and said "Boss can we go home now?" which was rather odd because they were booked until 8am when the next team would take over the next shift.

The runner doing the record attempt had been taken away by ambulance to hospital after collapsing of exhaustion having completed 12 hours of his 48 hour endurance attempt. This was always in the back of my mind as this guy honestly looked too normal to be doing this type of activity.

Sometimes ideas need to remain ideas and you need to know what your body is capable of before you put yourself in the spot light. I found the entire promotion bizarre and funny at the same time because I know at the peak of my fitness which was Army days I could run 100 km and that would be me done. I used to do endure the exercises during the day and then run as part of the marathon team in the evening only for the want of more food and no other reason. I hate running, but being fed steak and eggs over landmine chicken (don't ask) I would take in a heart beat even if it meant running for another 90 minutes when you are already tired.

There was no "I told you so" on the Monday morning and it was like the event never even happened. Funny though as these are memories you just can never forget and stay with you forever.